U. S. soldiers, Emergency Relief workers and those requiring Humanitarian rations around the world have been forced to eat thousands of MREMeal Ready to Eat’s (Meal Ready to Eat)  cold. They weren’t exactly intended to be eaten cold, but one of their great advantages is that they can be. MREs have served their purpose well with no reheating required.

In most situations, however, if there is time and opportunity to heat this food. Here are my favorites:

1) Boiling for 3-5 min. – take the pouch from outer carton and place it in clean boiling water heated from available sources: fire, heating tabs, or stoves.

2) Placing next to a non-liquid heat source: radiator, engine block, or even the human body. Be careful of burning or melting the pouch if the heat source is too hot.

3) Placing in a chemical heater, AKA “MREMeal Ready to Eat HeaterFlameless Ration Heater”. There are a couple kinds of civilian market heaters for retort pouches.

4) Microwave 2-3 min. Remov the contents from the pouch. The pouch contains an aluminum, non-microwaveable layer which gives the pouch such a long shelf life.

Enjoy a warm MREMeal Ready to Eat when you can.